Our African Stars

Akani Simbine

Akani Simbine (born 21 September 1993) is a South African sprinter. He competed in the 100 metres event at the 2013 World Championships in Athletics.
Whilst an Information Science student at University of Pretoria, Simbine equaled the South African record while setting an event record on the 9th of July 2015 in his gold medal winning run at the 2015 Universiade in Gwangju, South Korea. Simbine broke the South African record in 100m with a time of 9.96s at the ASA Night Series Meeting at Pilditch Stadium on the 8th March 2016.

Almaz Ayana

Almaz Ayana Eba (born 21 November 1991) is a Ethiopian female long-distance runner who competes in the 3000 metres and 5000 metres event. She won bronze medal in 5000 m event at the 2013 World Championships in Athletics held in Moscow, Russia. In the2015 IAAF World Championships in Beijing, Almaz won the 5000m course beating Genzebe Dibaba by a long distance.
Almaz won her first senior title over 5000 metres at the 2014 African Championships in Marrakech, defeating favourite Genzebe Dibaba in a championship record time of 15:32.72. One month later in the same stadium, she won the 5000m representing Africa at the 2014 IAAF Continental Cup by over 24 seconds.
Almaz ran a personal best of 14:14.32 over 5000 metres at the IAAF Diamond League meeting in Shanghai in 2015, improving upon her previous record of 14:25.84 which she had set in Paris in 2013. This made her the third fastest female athlete over that distance, behind compatriots Tirunesh Dibaba, the world record holder, and Meseret Defar.
On June 2nd, 2016 Almaz Ayana ran 5000 metres in 14:12.59 at IAAF Golden Gala in Rome. This made Almaz the second fastest woman ever on 5000 metres, second only to Tirunesh Dibaba, who holds the world record of 14:11.15.

Caster Semenya

Mokgadi Caster Semenya Bronze OIB (born 7 January 1991) is a South African middle-distance runner and world champion. Semenya won gold in the women's 800 metres at the 2009 World Championships with a time of 1:55.45 in the final. Semenya also won silver medals at the 2011 World Championships and the 2012 Summer Olympics, both in the 800 metres.
On April 16, Caster became the first person to win all three of the 400m, 800m, and 1500m titles at the South African National Championships, setting world leading marks of 50.74 and 1:58.45 in the first two events, and a 4:10.93 in the 1500m, all within a nearly 4 hours span of each other.

David Rudisha

David Lekuta Rudisha, MBS (born 17 December 1988) is a Kenyan middle-distance runner. He is the current Olympic champion and world record holder in the 800 metres. Rudisha was the first person to run under 1:41 for the event, and he holds the three fastest, six of the eight fastest, and half of the twenty fastest times ever run in this event. Rudisha has won a record 3 consecutiveTrack & Field Athlete of the Year awards (tied with Carl Lewis), and also won the IAAF World Athlete of the Year award in 2010.

Elroy Gelant

Elroy Gelant (born 25 August 1986) is a South African athlete competing primarily in the long-distance events. He finished 12th at the 2012 Indoor and 2013 Outdoor World Championships.

Julius Yego

Julius Yego (born 4 January 1989) is a Kenyan track and field athlete who competes in the javelin throw. He is the African recordand Commonwealth record holder for the event with a personal best of 92.72 metres. He won the javelin title at the All-Africa Gamesin 2011 and at the African Championships in Athletics in 2012 and 2014; at the 2013 World Championships he placed fourth, losing a medal in the final round. In 2014, he became the first Kenyan to win a Commonwealth Games gold medal in a field event. At the2015 World Championships he won the gold medal with a throw of 92.72m, becoming the first Kenyan to win a World Championships gold medal in a field event.

Kenenisa Bekele

Kenenisa Bekele (Amharic: born 13 June 1982) is an Ethiopian long-distance runner, who holds the world record andOlympic record in both the 5,000 metres and 10,000 metres events. He won a double at the 2008 Summer Olympics in these events; he also won the 2004 Olympic title over 10,000 m. He is married to Danawit Gebregziabher (m. 2007) and has one brother Tariku Bekele.
He is the most accomplished runner in IAAF World Cross Country Championships history, with six long (12 km) course and five short (4 km) course titles. He won the 10,000 m title at the World Championships in Athletics four times running from 2003 to 2009 (matching Haile Gebrselassie's win streak). Kenenisa was unbeaten over 10,000 m from his debut in 2003 until 2011, when he failed to finish at the World Championships final.
At the 2009 World Championships in Athletics he became the first man to win both 5000 m and 10,000 m title at the same championships. Over 5000 m he has also won an Olympic silver (2004), World Championship bronze (2003), two African Championship titles and one All-Africa Games gold medal. He also won the 3000 metres title at the World Indoor Championships in 2006.
Kenenisa is considered one of the greatest distance runners of all time, owning several world records and an array of medals. On April 6, 2014, he produced the sixth fastest marathon debut ever on a record eligible course with his victory at the Paris Marathon, in a course record time of 2:05:04. He is the older brother of Tariku Bekele, also an accomplished world-class distance runner.

Khotso Mokoena

Godfrey Khotso Mokoena (born 6 March 1985 in Heidelberg, South Africa) is a South African athlete who specializes in the long jump and triple jump.
Originally competing in the triple jump, winning the World Junior title in 2004 (he also came second in the long jump) and the silver medal at the 2006 Commonwealth Games, he switched to long jump in 2007 after an ankle injury. It was a very successful transition. In 2008 he won long jump at the world indoor championships and silver at the Olympic games.
In July 2009 he set a new African record in long jump, 8.50m in Madrid in an IAAF Super Grand Prix meeting where he finished second behind Fabrice Lapierre. The previous African record, 8.46, was held by Cheikh Toure of Senegal and set in 1997. For the 2014 Commonwealth Games, he switched back to the triple jump, winning the gold medal.

LJ Van Zyl

Louis Jacobus van Zyl (born 20 July 1985), better known as L. J. van Zyl, is a South African athlete competing in the 400 metre hurdles. He is the South African record holder in the event with a personal best of 47.66 seconds. He is a three-time African Champion in the event and competed for his country at the 2008 Summer Olympics and 2012 Summer Olympics.
He was the 2002 World Junior Champion over 400 m hurdles and reached the World Championships final at the age of twenty in 2005. His breakthrough into the senior ranks came in 2006 when he won gold medals at the Commonwealth Games and African Championships, as well as silver medals at the IAAF World Cup and IAAF World Athletics Final. He became the All-Africa Gameschampion in 2007. He came fifth in the 2008 Olympic final.
He married South African long-distance runner Irvette van Blerk in 2012.

Murielle Ahouré

Murielle Ahouré (born 23 August 1987) is an Ivorian sprinter who specializes in the 100 and 200 metres. She was a double silver medalist at the 2013 world championships in Moscow. She came second in both the 100 and 200 meters at this event.
She also won a silver medal at 60 metres event at 2012 IAAF World Indoor Championships in Istanbul, Turkey. She was the 2009 NCAA Indoor Champion at 200 metres while running for the University of Miami. Ahouré's personal best at 100 m is 10.81 (Oregon, USA, 2015) and in 200 m 22.24 (Monaco, 2013).
She holds Ivorian record in 100 metres outdoor and African record in 200 metres indoor and outdoor. At the 2012 Summer Olympicsshe placed sixth in the 200 m and seventh in the 100 m.
She ran under seven seconds for the 60 metres in February 2013, becoming the eighth fastest woman ever with her time of 6.99 seconds.

Stephen Mokoka

Stephen Mokoka (born 31 January 1985) is a South African long-distance runner who competes in races ranging from 3000 metresto the marathon distance. He is a four-time medalist at the Universiade and has represented South Africa internationally in road,cross country and track events. He represented South Africa in the marathon at the 2012 London Olympics.

Wayde Van Niekerk

Wayde Van Niekerk (born 15 July 1992) is a South African track and field sprinter who competes in the 200 metres and 400 metres. He holds personal bests of 19.94[1] seconds and 43.48 seconds for the distances, respectively. He has held South African records for both but currently he only holds the record for the 400m event. He's the first athlete ever to run 100 metres under 10 seconds, 200 metres under 20 seconds and 400m under 44 seconds.
Van Niekerk was the silver medallist in the 400 m at the 2014 Commonwealth Games and took bronze in the 4×400 metres relay at the 2013 Summer Universiade. He also represented South Africa at the 2013 and 2015 World Championships in Athletics. At the latter event he took the gold medal in the 400 and is the reigning world champion.

Wenda Nel

Wenda Nel (née Theron; born 30 July 1988) is a South African athlete specialising in the 400 metres hurdles. She competed at the2011 World Championships reaching the semifinals.
Her personal best in the event is 54.82 from 2014.